SNAP Calls Out Local “Bishop of Bling”

Bishop Shlemon Warduni, the second most senior Chaldean in Iraq, holds a cross as he leads Christmas day mass at the Virgin Mary Chaldean Christian church (Church of Our Lady of Sacred Heart) in the capital Baghdad on December 25, 2011. Iraq's dwindling Christian population marked Christmas with religious leaders calling for peace, days after attacks across Baghdad killed dozens and a political row raised sectarian tensions. Warduni estimates that Iraq's Christian population, put at between 800,000 to 1.2 million before the 2003 US-led invasion that overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein, had halved since then. AFP PHOTO/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE (Photo credit should read AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)

File photo of a Bishop holding a cross while leading mass. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOX) – Does the St. Louis area have it’s own “Bishop of Bling?”

This week the Pope suspended a German bishop for his lavish expenses. David Clohessy, with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) says a Belleville Bishop should be disciplined as well.

He says Bishop Edward Braxton has spent a small fortune renovating his home and taking trips to Africa.

“We’d like to think that if Bishops spent their money more prudently they could devote more resources to stopping abuse and to healing victims,” Clohessy said.

Bishop Braxton or the Belleville Diocese has not responded to our messages.